At the age of 15, she met Dr. Muthyala Govindarajulu Naidu and fell in love with him.
He was from South India. After finishing her studies at the age of 19, she married him during the time when inter-caste marriages were not allowed. Her marriage was a very happy one. They were married by the Brahmo Marriage Act (1872), in Madras in 1898. They had 4 children: Jayasurya, Padmaja, Randheer, and Leelamani.

From 1915 to 1918 she lectured all over India on welfare of youth, dignity of labour, women’s emancipation and nationalism. After meeting Jawaharlal Nehru in 1916, she took up the cause of the indigo workers of Champaran.
In 1925 she was elected as the President of the Congress, the first Indian woman to hold the post.

Naidu arrived in New York in October 1928 and was concerned with the unjust treatment of the African Americans and the Amerindians.
Upon her return to India she became a member of Congress Working Committee.

On January 26, 1930 the National Congress proclaimed its independence from the British Empire. On May 5, Mohandas Gandhi was arrested. Naidu was arrested shortly thereafter and was in jail for several months. She, along with Gandhi, was released on January 31, 1931.
Later that year, they were again arrested. Naidu was eventually released due to her poor health and Gandhi was released in 1933. In 1931, she participated in the Round Table Summit, along with Gandhiji and Pundit Malaviyaji. In 1942, she was arrested during the “Quit India” protest and stayed in jail for 21 months with Gandhiji. Naidu shared a warm relationship with Mohandas Gandhi, even calling him “Mickey Mouse”.

At the Asian Relations Conference of March 1947, Naidu
presided over the Steering Committee.

On August 15, 1947, with the independence of India, Naidu became the Governor of Uttar Pradesh, India’s first woman governor and she died in office in 1949.

Sarojini Naidu is also well acclaimed for her contribution in poetry. Her poetry had beautiful words that could also be sung. Her collection of poems was published in 1905 under the title “Golden Threshold”. She published two other collections called “The Bird of Time”, and “The Broken Wings”. Later, “The Magic Tree”, “The Wizard Mask”, and “A Treasury of Poems” were published.

Naidu writes:

Shall hope prevail where clamorous hate is rife,

Shall sweet love prosper or high dreams have place

Amid the tumult of reverberant strife

‘Twixt ancient creeds, ‘twixt race and ancient race,

That mars the grave, glad purposes of life,

Leaving no refuge save thy succoring face ?

Naidu said, “When there is oppression, the only self-respecting thing is to rise and say this shall cease today, because my right is justice.”Naidu adds,
“If you are stronger, you have to help the weaker boy or girl both in play and in the work.”

In 1916, Naidu published the first biography of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, The Ambassador of Hindu-Muslim Unity.